Combined package opener and dispenser



March 20, 1934. A, BUTT 51- AL 1,951,343

COIBINED PACKAGE OPENER AND DISPENSER Filed Dec. 30, 1931 INVENTQRS 7 Pane/d/l/fvff BY Ral /1A pm TTORNEY a cigarette packageand incidentally Patented Mar. 20, 1934 BATENT OFFICE COMBINED BAGKAGE OPENER AND DISBPENSER Ralph a. Butt, Newberg, and Donald H. McGogy,

McMinne, Greg.

Application December 30, 1931, Serial No. 583,904

3 Claims.

One of the primary objects of our invention is to obviate the difficulty of opening the conventional cigarette package and extracting therefrom the first cigarette. For convenience our invention will be so described, although it will be apparent that our invention is also adapted for use in connection with packs of other goods contained in a case similar to thatin which cigarettes are packed, in other words a case made of lacerable material.

Cigarettes at the present time are packed rather compactly in their case, and usually are' inclosed in a sealed outer cover of cellophane, or similar material, by reason of which the package is rather difficult to open.

The purpose of our invention is to provide in similar packages for other goods-means operable to cut the case open; and further, thru the medium of such means, to facilitate the tearing open of the package to such extent as to get conveniently at the cigarettes; also in connection with such opening means to provide further means for lifting one or more cigarettes-or portion of the goodsout of the package, rendering the remaining cigarettes-or other goods-in the package looser, and more readily removed.

To this end our invention in one form resides in the combination with a package of the character described-that is to say, the goods being inclosed by a lacerable wrapper-of a flat cutter, consisting of a piece made, for example, of pasteboard, thin ply wood, or other thin material presenting or provided with a semi-rigid pointed section; said cutter being placed between one side of the pack of cigarettes and the overlying wall section of the case, whereby said cutter .is held in place in the package with its point close to a wall of the case, thus positioned for driving its pointed section thru the wall of the case by manual pressure on the case; whereupon the projected end of the cutter may be seized and pulled up to tear the package more fully open.

If the cutter is made of pasteboard the stiffening of said pointed section may be conveniently accomplished by treating or coating with an indurating agent.

If our invention is to be arranged so as to provide not only means for opening the package, but also for lifting out one or more cigarettes as mentioned, in that case the cutter consists of a thin flat strip comprising a shank which is adapted to be arranged lengthwise in the package, and the shank is provided at one end with a bent over hinged head presenting a semi-rigid package, efiected by pressure of the pointed section, adapted to be arranged over the top of the cigarette pack under the overlying wall section of the case, so that by pressure on the case the said pointed head may be driven thru and open the case as mentioned; and the opposite end of the shank is provided with a lateral projection or toe, adapted to function as a cigarette lifter, that is, to be placed under one or more cigarettes, so that the act of pulling up on the projected end of said cutting head will also-ll lift out one or more of the cigarettes from the case. And' to facilitate seizure of said cutter element, or head, it is preferable to roughen one side of it. When making our device of pasteboard or ply, the roughening of one of its faces I0 may be conveniently done by a coating of fine sand.

When the cutter of our invention comprises both a cutter head and cigarette lifting toe as described, then a further object of our invention is I so to make our device, both with regard to construction and material, that it will be readily deformed by light pressure into a fiat strip, and thus present no menace, when thrown away, to traflic, or otherwise, because of presenting sharp, B0 puncturing points.

Further details of our invention with respect to different forms in which it may be carried into practice, are hereinafter fully described with reference to the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 shows a perspective elevation of a package of cigarettes which, it is assumed, contains one of our combined cutter and dispenser devices, the latter being indicated in broken outline;

Fig. 2 illustrates the first step in opening of the thumb on the front wall of the case, thereby causing the pointed section of the cutter to pierce such wall and project;

Fig. 3 shows the top of a cigarettepack after the case of the package has been torn open by seizing the projected end of the cutter and pulling the same up;

Fig. 4 shows a perspective elevation of our combined cutter and dispenser;

Fig. 5 shows a diagrammatic vertical cross section of a cigarette package provided with our combined cutter and dispenser, showing the placement of the later; and 105 Figs. 6, 7 and 8 show variations in the form of the cutter element of our invention by itself,

Our invention may be carried into practice by using merely a cutter for opening the package as illustrated by Fig. 2; the cutter being variable in preferably, we carry our invention into practice by employing a combined cutter and dispenser of the form illustrated by Fig. 4, and in practice used as illustrated by Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive.

Referring first to Figs. 6 to 8 inclusive, our cutter consists of a fiat thin piece a including a pointed section b; or it may consist of a flat strip 0 provided with a pointed section d; or a flat strip as e provided with a pointed section as J. The pointed section in each case serving to pierce, cut and tear open the package in the manner illustrated by Figs. 2 and 3.

The cutter may be made of pasteboard, in which case it may be, however, necessary to render the said pointed section semi-rigid by treatment with an indurating agent, as indicated by g in Figs. 6 to 8 inclusive.

The cutter is placed in the package before sealing of the case as shown in Figs. 6 to 8, between the top of the pack and the overlying wall section of the case, which is inchcated in Figs. 6 to 8 by broken outline h, with the point of said pointed section located close to the front wall of the case.

In order to open the package, pressure is brought to bear with the thumb of the hand against the front wall of the case as illustrated by Fig. 2, thus causing the pointed section b of Fig. 6, for example, to pierce and cut thru the front Wall and project from the same; and the projected end of the cutter may then be seized by the fingers and pulled up, in so doing. breaking away a substantial portion of the top of the case, so as to give convenient access to the inclosed pack of cigarettes, as illustrated by Fig. 3.

In order to effect not only the opening of the package by our invention, but also to use the opening means for facilitating the dispensing of one or more of the cigarettes, our device for such use consists of a combined cutter and dispenser, illustrated by Fig. 4, and is made of a flat bar of thin material 2', provided at one end with a head 7' having a semi-rigid pointed section, indicated at k, and provided at the other end with a semi-rigid lifting toe Z.

In order to give the lifting toe Z the required rigidity we find it convenient to reinforce the same with a bent piece of metal m, the ends of which are driven thru the piece 1' and clinched over as illustrated in Fig. 4.

The underside of the cutter head at the pointed section It, is preferably roughened by a coating of fine sand or similar material, so as to facilitate seizure by the fingers.

If the piece 2' be made of pasteboard we prefer that it be scored at 0 so that the cutting head 7 may be readily lifted into position shown by Fig. 3; and furthermore, the pointed section It may be treated with an indurating agent, to render it semi-rigid.

. Our combined cutter and dispenser is inclosed in the case of the pack of cigarettes as diagrammatically indicated by Fig. 5. The shank or middle portion of the piece 2' is arranged lengthwise of the pack, behind the rearmost row of cigarettes under the overlying wall section of the case. The cutting head 7' is arranged at right angles to the shank, thus over the tops of the cigarettes and under the overlying wall section of the case, with the point of the pointed section It arranged close to the front wall of the case; our combined cutter and dispenser being of course inserted before the package of cigarettes is sealed.

When our device has been placed in the package as illustrated by Fig. 5, the tops of the cigai,951,843 formas illustrated by Figs. 6 to 8 inclusive. But,

rette pack and the overlying section of the case constitute means for holding the cutting head sufllciently rigid that it may perform its piercing and cutting function as described.

In using our combined cutter and dispenser the opening of the package is effected by compressing the front wall of the case by the thumb, as illustrated by Fig. 2, thus causing the pointed section k of the cutting head to pierce and cut thru the front wall; and the projecting portion of the cutting head may then be seized with the fingers and pulled up, in so doing, tearing open a substantial portion of the top of the cigarette package. By then pulling on the cutting head It, now arranged in an upright position as indicated by Fig. 3, one or more of the back row of cigarettes may be lifted out of the pack as illustrated at p in Fig. 5, in so doing rendering the remaining cigarettes in the package looser and more readily removed.

The width of our combined cutter and lifter may be designed to engage one or more cigarettes, for the purpose of lifting the same, as illustrated by Fig. 5, as deemed convenient.

Since it must be presumed that our combined cutter and lifter will finally be pulled from the package and thrown away, it is necessary that our device present no menace to traffic or otherwise, by presenting sharp, puncturing points.

To this end, our invention when embodying both the cutter and lifting feature illustrated by Fig. 4, must be made from some material in all its parts which are readily deformed by light pressure, as for example, a wheel running over it, or a foot stepping on it, and thus render the 110 device harmless and non-menacing, by flattening it out in such a way that it does not present any sharp points.

In order to obtain the said non-menacing feature of our invention, the same may be made of ply wood or pasteboard, or of a metal which readily yields to light pressure; and if our in-- vention be made as illustrated by Fig. 4, thus including a stiffening element m for the toe, such stiffening element must also be made of a piece of metal readily deformed into a fiat strip by light pressure.

We claim:

1. A combined paper package opener and dispenser comprising a semi-rigid bar of thin material, corresponding in length to one interior dimension of the package, provided at its opposite ends with perpendicular projections in the same direction, one of said projections corresponding to another interior dimension of the package, this projection terminating in a point adapted to pierce the adjacent wall section of the package when forced against the same, the opposite end-projection constituting a lifting toe, and dimensionally corresponding with one unit of the pack to permit the lifting of such unit without disturbing the adjacent units.

2. A combined paper package opener and dispenser comprising a semi-rigid bar of thin material, corresponding in length to one interior dimension of the package, provided at its opposite ends with perpendicular projections in the same direction, one of said projections corresponding to another interior dimension of the package, this projection terminating ina point adapted to pierce the adjacent wall section of the package when forced against the same, the opposite end-projection constituting a lifting toe, and dimensionally corresponding with one unit of the pack to permit the lifting of such unit adapted to pierce the adjacent wall section of the package when forced against the same, the opposite end-projection constituting a'lifting toe, and dimensionally corresponding with one unit of the pack to permit the lifting of such unit without disturbing the adjacent units, the angular section of the bar formed by the latter projection being stiffened to resist'bending.

RALPH A. BUTT. DONALD H. MCGOGY. 

